LEAVE OF ABSENCES
A TRAINING WORKSHOP
PROVIDED BY
THE HUMAN RESOURCES
DEPARTMENT
AGENDA
 Types of leaves
 Leave policies
 Applying for a leave of absence
 Using earned sick and vacation time
 How and when to apply for disability
 Health Benefits, Pension and Life Insurance
Types of Leaves
• FMLA – Family Medical Leave Act
o Personal Illness
o Family Illness ( Administrator Interpretation regarding
definition of “son & daughter” Revised 2013)
o Intermittent Leave
• Personal Leave
• Military ( Expands qualifying exigency leave: Revised 2013)
Types of Leaves - FMLA
FMLA allows an employee to take 12 weeks of
unpaid leave from your job for a serious illness.
The 12 weeks are per calendar year, and do not
have to taken consecutively.
The FMLA leave can be granted for:
•
•
•
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The birth, adoption or foster care placement of a
child;
For incapacity due to pregnancy, prenatal
medical care or child birth;
A serious health condition that prevents the
employee from doing the essential functions of
his or her job;
To care for a child, spouse, or parent with a
serious health condition.
Types of Leaves
• "Family member" means a child, parent, or spouse.
•
Definition of “Son & Daughter” To allow employees
who assume the role of caring for a child the right to
family leave regardless of the legal or biological
relationship. Revised January 2013 – Administrator
interpretation providing guidance on the definition of
“son or daughter” as it applies to an individual 18
years of age or older and incapable of self-care
because of a disability. (Proof is required)
Intermittent Leave of Absence
• A non-consecutive leave comprised of
intervals, each of which is at least one but
less than 12 workweeks within a
consecutive 12-month period.
• Example: Sarah is notified by her doctor
that she will be required to receive outpatient therapy 2 times a week for 4
weeks. She will need to leave twice a
week for 3 hours. Sarah is entitled to use
her earned time and take off the required
days and hours.
Personal Leave
• Granted to employees for personal reasons such as:
o To complete educational requirements
o To accept a temporary appointment within state
government
o Other personal reasons: child care etc
• Supervisors have the right to deny leave.
• Employees can not use accrued sick time
Military Leave
• Eligible employee that is on active duty or call to
covered active duty status.
• Revised 2013 – Creates an additional qualifying
exigency leave category to provide care to military
member’s parent. ( Proof is required forms in HR).
How to apply
1.
2.
3.
To apply for any leave type employees need to
apply in writing to their supervisor.
Contact the Office of Human Resources at
extension 2335 for a consultation to discuss
documentation, medical benefits and wages.
Human resources will notify the supervisor, in
writing, once the leave has gone through the
approval process and all medical documentation
has been received.
Leave Approval
Process
Employee
I
Human
Resources
I
Supervisor
Employee
Human Resources
Letter of Notification
To Dean/Dept Head/
Supervisor
NJCU’s Request Policies
• Employees must give 30 days notice of
intent to take leave when it is known in
advance.
• A Physician certification must include
prognosis, duration and an expected
return to work date.
• Employees can not return to work from a
personal illness unless they submit a
doctor’s note approving the return to
work.
Use of Earned Leave Time
• An employee who is approved for leave under
the Family Leave Act can use accrued sick,
vacation, administrative leave or unpaid
leave.
• An employee on medical leave who uses all of
their available sick leave may qualify for the
New Jersey State Temporary Disability
Insurance Program or The University’s
Donated Leave Program.
Temporary Disability Insurance
• If an employee is temporarily disabled due to illness
or non-work related injury and has exhausted all
earned sick leave, he/she may apply for Temporary
Disability Insurance (TDI).
 The employee’s eligibility and benefit payment are
determined by the New Jersey Department of Labor
 Benefits are paid after the first seven consecutive days
of each period of disability.
 These first seven days are also known as the “waiting
week.” The waiting week will be compensable when
disability benefits have been paid for all or some part of
each of the three weeks immediately following the
waiting week.
 The payment of TDI is limited to 26 weeks.
Health and Dental Benefits
• Employees participating in the State Health
Benefits Program are entitled to continued
health coverage under the Act(s) while they
are on family leave. This includes all health
care benefits as well as prescription drug,
and dental insurance.
*Please note that an employee with a required
payroll deduction for health coverage and
dental coverage will be responsible to make
this payment to The University.
Pension
•
Service and salary credit for pension purposes are earned in
the state retirement systems (PERS) while in pay status only.
For periods where leave is taken on an intermittent or reduced
schedule basis, an employee may be able to obtain pension
credit depending upon the compensation received during the
coverage periods involved.
•
Members under the Alternate Benefit Program must receive at
least 50% percent of their base salary to make contributions
to their account.
•
Members of Public Employees Retirement System and
Teachers Pension Annuity Fund may purchase service credit
for up to three months for a family leave. The Alternate
Benefits Program does not have such a provision.
Life Insurance
• The employee's group life insurance coverage
will continue up to 93 days while on an
official family leave. In this case
contributions are required to continue
coverage under the contributory plan.
NJ-FLA
• The NJ-FLA requires employers to provide up to 12 weeks of
leave during any 24 month period for the care of an ill family
member (spouse, parent, or child) or for a newborn child or
adoption of a child.
• It is important to understand the most significant difference
between these two laws: the FMLA can apply to an
employee’s own medical condition ( as well as family
members), whereas the NJ-FLA only applies to family
members.
• NJ-FLA is unpaid. ( with pay if employee accrued time).
• Health benefits and Pension apply same as FMLA. Employee is
to pay his/her share of deductions.
QUESTIONS